Listen to the Rain
by Inkblot0Blue
Summary: In the months that followed Kougami Shinya's betrayal, Akane and Ginoza cope with the losses they had and the gains they made. And in that process, both inspector and ex-inspector begin to understand the value and meaning of a human life and the tight bond they share. Set between S1 and S2. [Fourshot, GinAka] COMPLETE
1. I - Bereavement

**A/N: Due to the lack of GinAka on FFN, I decided to write some. Expect angst, hurt/comfort and a sprinkling of romance in this four-shot. Some scenes in this four-shot have been modelled on 'Antithetic' so do not be surprised if some segments are in this story. Hints of past KougAne, developing GinAka.**

* * *

_I – Bereavement_

* * *

The difference was more than subtle. It settled on the offices like a lingering silence; it was silence that spoke words, infinite lengths, and carried on for minutes, hours and days. It was silence that caused exchanged glances, forced smiles and fake laughs.

It was odd and tense – this atmosphere that surrounded them – at least that was what they thought. They did not say much anymore to each other besides morning and evening wishes and orders. It was dull and monotonous, as if the cycle had been broken months before and repaired with bland tape that spoke of nothingness.

Every coffee cup that was drunk; every report that had been filled in; every dutiful task that was performed was accomplished slower than usual. The essence of time was heavy; filled with nothing more than delays and postponements. It was so sluggishly slow that even snails moved at a faster rate than this. It dragged on through the days endlessly; conforming to the wearisome cycle they had become a part of.

Gone were the faces, the laughs and the discussions shared between them – _all _of them. All that was left was the outer shell of their team: a crippled inspector; another inspector who had seen and felt more than she should have and an enforcer who said nothing – remaining in the background, almost soulless.

They had all seen too much, been through too much. Maybe that was what connected them in more ways than one. Yet it never did. They just grew more distant than ever before.

Division One would never be the same as it had once been.

* * *

Nobuchika Ginoza slumped back against the pillow on his hospital bed. He tried to stretch his limbs but a sharp shot of pain coursed through his body. His left arm, or what had been his left arm, was covered in wires and titanium pins. Occasionally electric jolts would shake him, leaving him in immense pain and distress. He instinctively placed his right arm over it, trying to ease what was left of it. He swore under his breath. The prosthetic engineer was supposed to come to sort out this new arm of his.

His Crime Coefficient was still stuck past the 100 mark; an appalling number. Ever since he had been admitted to the rehabilitation facility, the number still stayed within the 140s to 150s range with no sign of decreasing. Coupled with that were the nightmares that haunted him in his sleep, forever lurking and tugging at the core of his mind; he would awake, drenched in cold sweat, with images swimming in his mind. The pictures he saw with his inner eye were those of blood; of yells; of gunshots ringing out.

His mind continuously returned to the incident that had occurred only two weeks ago.

_It's only a dream_, he told himself countless times in the past few days.

The faces and voices were still etched into his mind, like the nightmares; Kagari's laugh; Kougami's smirk; Masaoka's wise words.

All of their little gestures and sayings had always been ignored by him, ignored for work purposes. He had been driven by a stupid, stupid goal and it had only led him to the end of earth where he had searched for the answer for so long.

The result had been _this_.

He should have appreciated them a little more; watched and contemplated a little longer.

Tsunemori had been right. All of the remaining members of what had once been Division One – _their_ division – missed the three of them. Even Kunizuka voiced her opinion on the matter, which was rare for her. Then again, Kagari had been her friend.

Nobuchika was even willing to say that they had departed from them for unnecessary reasons.

He missed them.

* * *

"I'm worried about Gino. He's not his usual self." Shion Karanamori sighed as she collapsed onto the leather sofa in her lab.

"Yeah, well who can blame him? He's lost his dad, Kougami and Kagari in the span of a few weeks. Cut him some slack." Yayoi muttered, concentrating on her cup ramen.

Her partner took a drag of her cigarette, smoke rose to the ceiling; it quickly evaporated into thin air. "True. I do miss his snobby attitude."

Yayoi snorted into her plastic carton. "He'll always be snobby, Shion. Mark my words."

The analyst nodded in response. "I suppose we could ask Akane to see how he's doing."

"You're too late. She just went."

"That means she'll be back late. Guess I'll get work done." Shion moved to her desk chair.

Kunizuka raised an eyebrow. "Since when've you been so proactive?"

"Since now," Shion paused her line of speech as she tapped in the password keys for her computer. "I've procrastinated too much and Chief Kasei wants some report on security cameras to be handed in later tomorrow."

"Can't you ask one of the other analysts to do it?"

"They wouldn't wanna work with a latent criminal. Besides, she messaged me personally about it."

Yayoi threw her ramen carton in the bin. "I'll be off now."

"See you later."

* * *

Ever since that incident, Inspector Tsunemori had felt a little calmer; a little calmer than she had been a few weeks ago at least. The city had been restored to peace. The helmet riots had stopped and Makishima Shogo had also been stopped albeit in the most unlawful way.

At night-time she lay on her bed, counting the stars amid the holographic projections that distorted her view. She spotted constellations, and wrote names in those stars; characters and kanji would merge to form the names of people she lost, people she loved, and people she gained. The list was small though.

There was still the dull ache she felt when her former colleague was mentioned; she had made attempts to avoid such conversations, only ever citing him when necessary. In last two weeks, they had kept silent as a division, such questions were taboo.

She didn't cry anymore. All the tears she once had shed were dry, there weren't any more left. Blood had been shed of course, but it was forgotten. Sometimes she heard _his _voice at night. It was rare though. She slept without dreams after counting the constellations, as though her whole life had been a figment of her imagination.

Kunizuka and Ginoza hardly spoke anymore but it was expected. Even when the other ones had been there, they had usually been silent. She expected the new enforcers to arrive soon, even if it was only to breathe a new life into their bland and colourless lives.

She missed them too; at least in that tiny fragment of a memory, there had been happiness.

The inspector still lay on her bed, still staring at the ceiling. The constellations vanished, replaced by thick walls and technological images. Her wristband chirped. She tapped at the holographic screen to read the message. It was from Ginoza.

* * *

Ward 3 was brightly lit by fluorescent blue and white lights, wires surrounded the area and drones kept the patients guarded. It smelled sterile; heavy with antiseptic and germ-free. Akane presented her ID to the drone guarding Room 10. It registered her and let the inspector in.

Lying on the hospital bed was Ginoza. He was sitting up in bed with pillows supporting his back. He held a book in his right hand. With his eyes, the patient gestured for her to take a seat on the chair next to him. Although his body moved as he attempted to shift positions, his left arm was useless and limp like a puppet.

Akane took her seat and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I saw your message. How are you?"

Ginoza looked up to face her. He hesitated briefly before speaking. "It's gone up. I'll have to resign."

His words were short and quick. Akane responded. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better about it?"

There was an immediate mood change.

"Yeah," He eyed her scornfully. "You can laugh at this pathetic excuse for a man and go complain about him to your 'boyfriend'."

"Listen, Kougami wasn't my boyfriend, okay? Just stop making assumptions of yourself and of others!" Her brown eyes betrayed a hint of hurt and of betrayal.

Kougami was gone from them. Gone for his own selfish reasons. Yet that didn't change Ginoza, he was indifferent to it, as if he had seen it happen many times – as though the deaths and losses he had seen and felt just continued to increase. He hated being left behind; he didn't want Tsunemori to fall the same way.

"Or what?" He sneered at her, ignoring his thought process.

Akane found herself at loss for words.

He replied, still scrutinizing her. "I thought you wouldn't respond," Ginoza did not await her reaction. "Here."

Nobuchika rummaged around the bedside table and the bed sheets with his only hand. After a couple of seconds, he placed something in her hand.

It was his police badge. The hologram flickered at intervals, appearing bluish-green and quickly converting to white. His picture was still intact; dark hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a scowl etched on his face. "Tell Chief Kasei I'm leaving."

"But–"

"Tsunemori, I'm of no use to you or anyone at the PSB. It's better if I just stay in the rehabilitation facility. I'm a bloody latent criminal; you shouldn't associate yourself with me. Just go." He did not look at her as he said it, instead he faced the door with cold green eyes. His words were laced with bitterness.

"Mr Ginoza, please–"

"Go." The patient said, still staring at the door guarded by the drones.

"I care about you!"

He met her gaze. His left eye muscle twitched slightly and his lips creased into a thin line. "You shouldn't. Now please leave before I get even angrier."

Tsunemori rose from her seat next to his bed and turned away from him, her shoes sounded on the tiled floor, a dull noise, before it stopped. Receding footsteps were replaced with the electronic shutting of doors.

He sighed, glaring at the ceiling. "What have I done?" He croaked out to no one in particular.

* * *

The rain was heavy this evening. Droplets of water splattered onto the pavement like bloodstains. It ran down gutters like water exiting a shower head into the drain. The repeating sounds of thunder echoed in the distance, a dull cry of rage. The low hum of car engines resonated quietly in the thunderstorm, engulfed by the continuous pouring of rain.

Seated beside the window, Yayoi placed her earphones in her ears and hit the 'Play' button on her device. The strains of the bass guitar were replaced by the screeching sound of an electric guitar and the song changed to one with metal rock music. Her grey eyes flitted across her surroundings outside the glass barrier. Such music seemed perfect for this dreary weather.

* * *

Akane reclined back in her office chair. The room was dark save for a desk lamp on Kunizuka's desk that the enforcer had left on after she retired for the night.

The inspector twirled the black leather wallet in her hands; the hologram badge glinted in her eyes. It gave off a hazy electric blue colour, painting her face and body in that same colour. After a few minutes of examining it, she placed the wallet on her desk. She stared at it.

Was he really going to leave?


	2. II - Despondency

_II - Despondency_

* * *

_"__Surely silence can sometimes be the most eloquent reply."_

_\- Ali Ibn Thalib_

* * *

The fog was like a criminal in the night – a thief and murderer. It suffocated the buildings with blinding whiteness and ash grey clouds swooped in to blank out any remaining traces of people walking on pavements or exiting offices. It vanished around the corner and crept up platforms, creating a hazy outline of the city. It scurried up the floors of the memorial yard, choking and grasping the visitors present with its powerful yet subtle grip; the air glossed over two names placed only a few metres apart; an empty coffin and a recent grave for Shuusei Kagari and Masaoka Tomomi .

The pale moon cast light on the tombstones, painting them in fluorescent colours; they cast long shadows like outstretched arms, reaching out as if to grab. The fog only emphasised it. A calm breeze enveloped the derelict streets; the trees shook when the wind pulled at their roots and granted the branches to sway gently from side to side. As the noise died down, another voice rose to pierce the silent night; the meowing of a cat, then a hiss before it quickly scurried off; its paws pounded on the cold concrete ground.

* * *

Nobuchika took a drag of his cigarette and stared down at the cellular device in his hands. His thumb hovered over the caller ID and contact details. Instead of 'Kougami', 'Shinya' had been registered; an old input from his university days that he had not been bothered to correct ever since the man became a latent criminal.

He flicked the cigarette into the bin beside him and regarded it with a look of disgust in his mind. He didn't know why he did it; Ginoza did not smoke to allow the pain to ebb away or use it as an excuse for comfort or dependency, but rather for the unknown.

The smoke from his last drag evaporated slowly, it became nothing more than particles that merged with the dust in the air. The sight of the cancer stick in the bin and the rotting stench it gave off in the small, dingy and dungeon-like room made him feel nauseous and sick with irritation.

The phone was still glued to his hand; the fluorescent-blue light the screen gave off bathed his face in a hazy electric midnight blue colour and illuminated the square, box-like room.

He shifted about uncomfortably in his position on the bed, attempting to relocate his left arm that had been fixed with a prosthetic; the engineer had decided to show up three days after his resignation and fit him with the implant stating that it would take time for his brain to coordinate with it since it had grown used to the loss of that limb. It still felt awkward to have his arm back.

As he glared at the number and name on his cell phone, images of the man appeared in his mind; it constantly haunted his dreams now with hollow laughs, smirks and philosophical analogies. It was the face of the man who had betrayed him and lost his trust; the man who had been his only friend.

He scoffed at the thought of them being friends again before he smiled sadly.

"I'll keep your name if you ever want me, but that's highly unlikely."

He pressed the 'Silent' button next to the ID before he scrolled down through his remaining contacts, filtering through deceased colleagues and unwanted persons before stopping at Tsunemori's number. He raked a hand through his hair and sighed before pressing the number to reveal the contact information. Voicemail would do for now.

* * *

"The Area Stress level has increased in Ward 14. Will all free divisions please respond to the situation and –"

Akane sighed in weariness before muting the announcement.

"Shouldn't we be answering to that?" Kunizuka raised her head and gestured towards to the loudspeaker.

"No, Division Six has it under control. Besides, we're in no state of declaring investigations and patrols. I think we'll get reshuffled to another division."

"Or there'll be new enforcers recruited." Yayoi muttered, adding to her colleague's sentence.

"That's left up to the Recruitment Board and unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and paperwork just to do that."

The enforcer was silent again, drawing her own attention to her desk and began sorting her files.

The female inspector noticed her silence and commented in a quiet tone. "I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you Ms. Kunizuka, I was just pre-occupied."

Yayoi lifted an eyebrow in surprise; her grey eyes surveyed the brunette a few metres away from her. "No," she sifted through some papers. "…that's quite alright. It's to be expected."

"I was just in my head for the last few weeks what with the deaths and the disappearances. How should I make it up to you?"

Yayoi smirked. "Since when has an inspector taken an interest in us hunting dogs? I'd be glad to join you for lunch or dinner some time seeing as I'm your only partner right now."

"I don't mean to intrude but don't you usually spend your breaks with Ms. Karanamori?"

The raven haired woman chuckled softly. "She can always wait. It's usually night time when we really let loose."

Akane's face turned bright red at the information she received. "I didn't mean to push in on your personal life, I quite –"

"You're the first person I've told," The woman sighed softly. "I can trust you to keep it under wraps unlike Kougami."

"He knew?"

"No, it was another incident concerning me a few years back. I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to."

Yayoi stared at her hands in her lap. "Do you miss them?"

"Yes."

"I remember it as though it were only yesterday when you came to my desk to ask for a keyboard, Kagari had said he'd been using his but the little shit was only messing around," Yayoi looked up at the brunette, flashing a one-sided smile. "It's a pity I didn't irritate him a little more, guess I'll have to find some other newbie to annoy."

"And Masaoka?" Akane inquired.

"Masaoka was the kind of guy you went to for advice really so I did that a couple of times, otherwise not much was shared between us."

The awkward silence from their previous conversations returned; they knew that Kougami was a delicate subject and considered taboo around the three, now two, of them. Yayoi took the opportunity to sift through some files before she rose from her seat.

"I'd better get a move on; Kasei wants me and Karanamori to report on the use of technology or some other thing like that." The enforcer tilted her head in the direction of Tsunemori's desk. "I've left a couple of reports there for you about some cases. Don't lose sleep over it; you can always look at it in the morning."

"All right, I'll try not to."

"Good," The enforcer rose from her seat and grabbed her coat, fumbling with the sleeves. "And Inspector?"

Tsunemori turned around to face Yayoi's retreating back. "Yes?"

"Forgive them – Ginoza and Kougami, I mean. They had their own reasons."

Yayoi's slightly muffled voice echoed the halls moments after, leaving the inspector to ponder.

* * *

Ginoza slowly turned the envelope around in his hands. He scrutinised it before giving in and tearing it open. Inside was a piece of a paper; a few sentences were written. Nothing much was what he assumed; his green eyes sprinted across the characters, drinking in the content.

_Gino,_

_I never intended for any of this to happen and I'm deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused. You didn't understand why I did it last time (allowing myself to become a latent criminal and all) so I doubt you would understand this time. I just wrote this letter to tell you that I'm sorry for everything and hope that all is better without me. Tell Tsunemori that I wish her all the best._

_Kougami Shinya_

He threw the paper to the side and balled his fists; a scowl replaced his formerly neutral expression. He reached for his phone and furiously punched in letters before the chirruping noise of a sent message greeted his ears.

"Damn you." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

Tsunemori shut the front door of her apartment slowly before she turned around and leaned against it. The first few signs of a headache pulled at her mind, echoing incessantly like a drum beat; she closed her eyes in an attempt to halt the pain but was greeted with louder echoes. The face of a man with a strong jawline and unkempt hair flashed through her mind, she sighed and shook her head; Kougami would never leave her, no matter how many times she tried to forget him.

Akane sauntered into the bedroom, removing her suit jacket as she walked in. An unmade bed stood to the far side of the room, the stale smell of month-old bed sheets and cigarette smoke hung in the air. She continued to stare at the bed, a dejected look on her face. _His_ scent was still on her bed sheets no matter how hard she tried to pluck up the courage to put them in the laundry and wash it away; it was something akin to sentimentality and recollection that prevented her from doing that.

Akane closed her eyes again. The face of a man with longer hair and green eyes hidden behind wire-rimmed glasses flashed through her mind. She sighed again; it had only been a week since Nobuchika resigned and she already missed his presence. Maybe it was a need for comfort and empathy after Kougami had sent her that letter regarding his betrayal and his leave of absence.

Her train of thought was cut short when her wristband chirped with a new message. The ID was registered as Nobuchika Ginoza.

"I want to talk to you. Is there any way I can meet up with you between the hours of 6 and 10 pm on Friday night?"

She sighed, carding a hand through her short brown locks, tugging at the ends and replied.

"Meet me outside the PSB at 6:30 PM."


	3. III - Tranquillity

**A/N: Thank you so much for the support and 700 views at only the second chapter! This instalment contains developing GinAka, hints of former KougAne and obvious Yayoi/ Shion. There's less angst and more comfort in this chapter, enjoy!**

* * *

_III - Tranquillity_

* * *

_The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil._

_-Marcus Tullius Cicero_

* * *

_Red sand ran through his fingers, rusty like dried blood. He stared at his barely visible, distorted reflection in the puddle near the blood splatter. He saw the face of a young man, not him, and frowned._

_The sound of heavy footfalls echoed the red space of sand and blood, footsteps were approaching him. A cigarette was thrown carelessly on the ground; its stub was still lit, silently feeding away at the roll of tobacco, reducing the remains to ash and dust. _

_A gun was brought before him, the chamber faced him. He saw the face for a brief moment, blue-grey eyes met his pupils and a mane of dark and unkempt hair blew in the breeze. The voice beckoned to him._

_He looked away for a brief moment._

_The hand tightened on the trigger. The bullet was released from its chamber like a bird from its cage._

_A high pitched hoarse scream followed._

* * *

Nobuchika's eyes snapped open with the harsh ringing of an alarm clock and he slowly, gingerly, pulled his body upwards, rummaging around his bedside table to shut off the holographic clock. His right hand found the switch before he turned it off, in the process he knocked off a packet of Spinel cigarettes.

_Blue-grey eyes, messy hair, cigarettes…_

He eyed the packet with a glare briefly before returning to read the date on the projection.

Friday: his meeting with Akane was in twelve hours.

* * *

Yayoi knitted her eyebrows together in a curious frown with her lips in a tight line as she read the job application letter. The strains of acoustic guitar strumming bled out of her headphones as she tapped one high heeled foot to the beat, her ears picked up the various noises as she turned over each page with a serene and disinterested expression on her face.

Each file was filled with detailed notes on birth, academic life, Sybil's messages and other necessary job application material. Yayoi yawned through the propaganda churned out in the side notes of Sybil's so-called encouragement and recommendations regarding colour hues and psycho passes themselves.

She had seen many of these files, biased to fit in with the lies that Sybil craved. The lies she had heard people say and the fake compliments people would put in. She recalled Masaoka mentioning such things, the safe house he had in one of the wards and the same house that Kougami occupied for a brief period. She wondered if Ginoza was there, biding his time before being caught and taken into rehab.

Kunizuka leafed through the next file, her eyes jumped from word to word lazily, picking up cited names. She had heard the name Mika Shimotsuki before. It was some time ago in someplace she cared little about, perhaps only a few months ago.

The enforcer dismissed the thought from her mind and rose from her seat, placed the file on Tsunemori's desk and exited the office; the music continued to play in her headphones.

* * *

Akane straightened her coat and glanced at her watch. It read 6:28 PM. Electric blue lights emitted from the dark cylindrical building behind her, bathing her form in dark colours. A masculine voice a few metres away beckoned to her.

"Inspector Tsunemori,"

He looked the same as when she last saw him in the hospital; sea-green eyes free of glasses, long hair and a tired gaze. The blue lights accented his pale face. His voice came out as soft and quiet.

"I know a place where we can talk in peace. It's a little penthouse café in one of the parks."

* * *

Comprehensive Analyst Lab Two remained as dark as ever, lit only by a single projection on the laptop that Karanamori had currently positioned herself by. Her long red nails clacked away at the keyboard, typing out reports.

"You working late again?"

Shion turned her swivel chair around to face Yayoi. There was a cigarette in her mouth; it was from a packet of Spinel. "Yeah. Division Three is a pain in the ass."

Yayoi placed a styrofoam coffee cup on her partner's desk; the workspace was cluttered with paperwork and take-out boxes. "Yeah, I've heard about them. Rumour has it that Ginoza called up Tsunemori to meet up."

Shion took another drag of her cigarette. "Why am I not surprised?"

"They're perfect relationship material, that's what you'd say."

"Maybe and so are we." The blonde-haired woman extinguished her cigarette. She tapped a few keys on the tablet, a message popped up the laptop screen notifying that the device was shutting down. Shion lifted herself from the seat and walked over to her partner, stopping beside Yayoi.

"Are you implying this night is headed elsewhere?" Kunizuka's words were the only sound in the room.

"Maybe." Yayoi smiled softly, reaching out to kiss Shion on the lips, pulling the analyst down with her on the armchair, the coffee cup neglected.

* * *

"I…" Ginoza's gaze shifted from her face to the wall. "I received a letter from him."

Tsunemori tilted her head questionably. "You mean?"

He nodded slowly in response. "Yes."

_No names, just faces. _

The ex-inspector produced the letter and slid the envelope across the table.

"Read it."

Her brown eyes darted from one line to another, drinking in the words like poison. When she finally tore her eyes away from the paper, she was met with a neutral stare. "I didn't expect that."

"No, I guess he's happy wherever he's hiding, probably in some other country in the region; away from all the shit here." He didn't look at her or the envelope as the words left his mouth; they were laced with bitterness and she sensed hurt and regret.

"Listen, it doesn't matter any longer-"

He cut her off. "Didn't you love him?" The tone of his voice was not of annoyance or jealously, but of comfort.

"Yes but that was long ago."

"Maybe, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't speak about him. He left for his own selfish reasons, and I left for my own albeit for a couple of days. If that's the case, why haven't you stopped talking to me?

Tsunemori observed him; Nobuchika always spoke slowly when speaking about these matters, gazing often at inanimate objects and gesturing to certain points in his speech with hand gestures. It was a clenching of the fists this time and his sea-green eyes were fixated on the glass of water beside him.

"We were and are latent criminals, have wronged the law and done a bunch of other things we shouldn't have. So what's the difference?"

Akane moved her lips as if to speak but clamped her mouth shut.

"Is it because you loved him and not me? Is that the difference?"

There was no answer; silence filled the room once more, brief but awkward and heavy. Ginoza broke it with his response.

"But as you said earlier, it doesn't matter any more, does it?"

She hummed in response.

"Besides, he's gone and I'm still here. At least there's still some of us left. You, me and Yayoi will always be together in our own ways. That is, until Sybil wishes to get rid of one of us or whatever nonsense it'll throw at us next." The corners of his lips lifted upwards in a smirk.

"Does that mean you'll join the PSB again? As an enforcer, I mean."

Ginoza's green eyes levelled with hers. "I'll be in the rehabilitation facility from tomorrow onwards. You can come by next week if you want an answer."

"What about your answer now?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

Akane nodded in reply, allowing a gentle smile to paint her features. "I guess I'll say goodnight."

"Good night, Inspector."

Akane rose from her seat and took her coat from beside the chair. "You can call me Akane."

He watched her as she put her coat on and walked away; high heeled boots clacked on the marble surface of the outdoor café. Her footfalls were soft, not hard, like the dream and the dominator that she carried was smooth and was less dangerous, less impulsive, unlike Shinya's revolver. There was no sand here, only tall glass and steel infrastructures cleaned by drones. Sand, the kind that he had read in books was yellow rather than red but blood was everywhere, the liquid was in their human systems and on the streets in the form of crime scenes.

He wondered where and how they all fell in place together.


	4. IV - Intertwined

**A/N: Thanks goes out to all those who've favorited, followed, reviewed and read this story, each one of those actions truly made my day and encouraged me to continue with this work. Special thanks goes out to _DestiniesEntwined _for adding this story to her amazing GinAka archive collection and her continued support and feedback. And while the GinAka here is subtle, it's definitely how I'd imagine its working out in the early stages and I now present to you the final instalment of this wonderful work. Enjoy!**

* * *

_IV – Intertwined_

* * *

_What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us._

_\- Ralph Waldo Emerson_

* * *

He raised his right hand to eye level, scrutinising the dirt underneath his nails, the peppering of scabs and the way the light reflected the colour of the blood coursing through him; green not red. He lowered it and raised his left hand, flexing the metallic fingers. It still felt…off. Naturally, he mused, one would feel so but it had been at least four weeks and there was still the dull ache of pain that coursed through him, tormenting his nervous system every now and then.

The bed was hard, with the same texture as a jagged rock, and left more unnecessary pain in its wake. The small cage he was currently ensnared in was blindingly white, with a light blue carpet on the ground, some bags of clothing, and a few newspapers strewn randomly about the room. To the back of the cage was a bathroom, reeking of sewage and a mouse that'd made itself comfortable by chewing on the cardboard boxes he'd abandoned when he had first arrived here.

He heard the intercom buzz, his ears strained to make out the voice over the crackling feed. It was an operator.

"Inspector Tsunemori Akane will you see you now in your cell."

* * *

"Have you heard the news?"

Comprehensive Analyst Lab 2 was brightly-lit today, blue overhead lights glared down at the furniture and the two women present in the room, distorting the colouring of their clothing and hair, as though the saturation had been turned up slightly.

Yayoi walked over to her partner, tying up her hair in a high ponytail. "What? More gossip?" She inquired in a bored tone.

Shion swung her chair around to face her, a small grin on her face. "Ginoza's in rehab now and there's a high chance he'll join us as an enforcer."

The raven-haired enforcer raised her eyebrows. "I guess the young inspector convinced him or something."

Shion nodded. "Obviously. You can't exactly hide here, not when Sybil's eyes are forever watching your every move."

Her words were quiet but they carried a tone of cheeriness, an emotion Yayoi rarely possessed; an emotion that Shion could see every now and then in her arms at night time. "But at least we'll have Gino back."

She smiled at her partner, glad at the swift change in tone. "I'll be glad to have his snobby presence around."

"You mean you'll be surprised that he's slightly less robotic now that he has Tsunemori?"

Shion chuckled; a cloud of cigarette smoke circled her. "I'm sure that's juxtaposition, now that he has a prosthetic limb."

An all-knowing smirk filled Yayoi's face, her blue eyes directly in-line with her lover's. "And that's good enough for me."

* * *

The young inspector stood before him, she was dressed in a blue pinstripe suit and skirt with dark high heels.

"Have you got an answer?"

"…Yeah."

"Well, what is it?"

His brow furrowed slightly as he raised his head to reply. "I think…I'll be an enforcer."

She nodded in agreement. "Well that's a good idea, there's plenty of space to slot you into one of the divisions."

"Tsunemori –" He shook his head. "No, Akane, I'd much rather be in my former division…It'll be better for us as a…unit."

"If you say so."

"So, you'll allow me?" A hopeful glint hit his eyes.

"Yeah sure, it'll be good to have some backbone in our team again. Just to show that not all of us have left." She smiled at him.

Nobuchika chuckled softly, staring down at his hands.

The light noise faded and silence slipped in, leaving them in an awkward state; they weren't used to silence, not when Kagari could always whip up a random comment, Yayoi swearing under her breath and Kougami taking long drags on his cigarettes. And then there were three, like the old stories would say: him, his colleague and his superior. And they were a rag tag bunch of silent persons, occasionally sharing glances and reassuring nods in between the investigations and interrogations.

"Sorry I left." He said, his eyes still staring down.

She sat beside him on the bed, her brown eyes observing him. "You had a right to."

"No, I meant making all those assumptions, pissing you off, shutting you all out. It wasn't right." He scoffed. "Hell, I'd say I acted like a kid who had his favourite toy taken away from him."

He met her gaze with a small sad smile. "I never intended to hurt your feelings."

"You didn't, Ginoza, you just-"

He held a hand to put her sentence to a stop. "You can call me Nobuchika, you know."

She let out a breath of exhale. "Well, Nobuchika, you didn't hurt me. Not really. I'd just been in this state of confusion ever since…then. And I guess I've just been bottling all this up for a while, what with all this business of him leaving and my feelings just being betrayed. I mean, he had his reasons but I just wanted something more than just a letter as a response and-"

The words trailed off, leaving her mind with nothing but an empty and blank space. His sea-green eyes sent a silent message: _You don't have to talk about him. _His voice filled the white room, covering in the empty spaces with his words.

"Men are confusing creatures, Akane, myself included. And whatever's done is done and we can just leave it at that in the past. Maybe your form of release is more orthodox than mine but I just think you could turn a new page on it. Add new enforcers, add new inspectors, add new people really in this life and us old ones, Shion and Yayoi and I, will always still be there to root you on. It doesn't matter how you view the relationship between each one of us, we will love you in our different ways in varying forms of professional and platonic love to romantic love, if you'll have it."

His voice lowered, and he shyly looked away. "...If you'll have me."

She raised her head, levelling her gaze with him, brown eyes met sea-green. He felt small arms circle around his waist and Akane's head rest gently against his chest.

Her muffled reply arrived shortly after. "Thank you."

He pressed his lips against the top of her head.

"It'll be fine." He murmured.

* * *

The green man appeared on the street sign again and the Tokyo streets filled once again with the buzz of life; pedestrians crossed the roads hurriedly in the foggy rain, and droplets of water hit the umbrellas like bullets, hard pellets of water ricocheted off the roofs of metal buildings, emitting an incessant drumming sound. The cars hummed gently as they circled the urban landscape, slowly coming to a stop to allow the continuous flow of nameless and faceless people to pass, all wrapped up in dark colours with umbrellas.

A dull and distant sound of thunder cracking would occasionally flit into their ears, complementing the tinny rain. Ginoza slipped a hand into Akane's hand and squeezed it gently as they briskly made their way through the streets of neon green and bright red signs advertising electronics and new meals at a local restaurant.

They turned a few corners and arrived in an alleyway. There were various incomprehensible scribbles drawn on the walls and bright spray-painted images of creatures and names of lovers appeared on the walls. A drawn eye in blue and white ink stared at the newly-assigned enforcer from its position on the red brick wall. Underneath he noticed the inscription, made clear in white ink and he read it quietly to himself: _Believe in your own power. Don't always rely on others._

A tiny fragment flitted into his mind's eye; a face was shaped and a smirk was plastered on it. Unkempt hair and darting blue eyes were added to the face and a halo of cigarette smoke circled the dark figure. And Ginoza opened his mouth as if to say something, Akane's eyes on him, but clamped it shut again and gave her a small smile in reply.

The question spun around in his head, slowly being turned around and churned like butter. It lingered.

A new and calm breeze of fresh wind overtook the twilight-blue stratosphere and his eyes called out silently to the pellets of rain slowly descending down on the grimy earth, his grip on Tsunemori's hand lessened slightly.

Overhead, the servers clicked back into life and the holograms displayed different results, Sybil's logo, a small circle with something resembling two lungs or two halves of the brain, cropped up on the corners of the charts, working through the various people who inhabited the never-sleeping city.

Then the images he saw in his forever recurring dreams were pieced together, like a small jigsaw puzzle, and it all fell into place, each piece held a different image, a different memory; they were just broken shards of glass joined together to form a sheet of glass and written out in bright characters was the question he had posed for months on end and the sentence that he had racked his brains out trying to solve:

_Where are you now?_

**END**


End file.
